Protecting girls and women from ‘modern day slavery’

New support to protect girls and women from ‘modern day slavery’

The
ILO and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) partner
to combat trafficking of women and girls with major new project in South
Asia and the Middle East.

GENEVA - A major new project to help prevent 100,000 girls and women
across South Asia from falling victim to the worst forms of labour
trafficking was launched today, by the Department for International
Development and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The
UK Government is investing £9.75 million over five years into the Work
in Freedom initiative to help tackle known labour trafficking routes
between South Asia, such as Bangladesh and Nepal, to the Middle East
including Jordan, United Arab Emirates and Lebanon. Around 21 million
people are trafficked and in forced labour worldwide, the majority are
from Asia with women and girls most affected.

Every year
millions of men and women from poor communities migrate to find
employment so they can send money home to support their families. They
get jobs such as live-in domestic workers cooking, cleaning and looking
after families or in garment factories. But many end-up being deceived
and trafficked into jobs with extremely low wages or don’t get paid at
all, their movement is restricted, their living and working conditions
are very poor, and they often suffer physical and sexual abuse.

The programme will reach tens of thousands of women and girls and aims to:

Provide
50,000 women with skills and pre-departure training and other support
to help them avoid being trafficked and secure a legal contract and
decent wage;

Help 30,000 women achieve greater economic
empowerment so they are better able to support themselves and their
families. This will be done through helping women understand their
rights, enable them to organize collectively and vocational training to
help ensure access to decent work opportunities in destination
countries;

Help thousands more migrant women to avoid
paying extortionate, illegal recruitment fees by cracking down on
unscrupulous recruitment practices and encouraging recruitment agencies
to sign-up to ethical principles and practices; and

Prevent
child labour by helping thousands of girls under 16 years to stay in
school, so they aren’t compelled to migrate for work.

International Development Minister Lynne Featherstone said:

"Income
earned from migrant workers abroad and sent back home provides a vital
source of support to families in developing countries worth billions of
pounds and many times more than the global aid budget. But it is
appalling that today - hundreds of years since the abolition of the
slave trade - women are still trafficked into abusive jobs in their
millions.

"Women who want to migrate for work to lift themselves
and their families out of poverty should be able to do so safely and
securely. The Work in Freedom initiative will help more than 100,000
women and girls in South Asia, a trafficking hotspot, with practical
support and advice so that they can earn a living and avoid the dangers
of trafficking.”

The ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder said:

"Labour
mobility is a reality of our globalized economy but with it comes an
increased risk of labour trafficking, particularly for the poorest and
most vulnerable.

"We estimate over $12 billion worth of income a
year is withheld from those in forced labour in Asia and the Middle
East. This is money that should be helping lift families out of poverty.

"This
ground-breaking partnership with the UK Government is a vital step in
making migration for work a safe and legitimate means of improving
livelihoods.”

The Gender Violence and Health Centre at the London
School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine will be monitoring and
evaluating the project. Professor Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said:

"Given
the large numbers of women and girls putting themselves at risk of harm
to support their families, it is exceedingly urgent that we seek
strong evidence on what works to prevent human trafficking and stop
extreme exploitation.

"DFID recognizes that, to date, the field
of trafficking has had very weak evidence. We are pleased to lead this
intervention research and draw on our expertise to build a more robust
evidence-base on what works to help working women improve their lives
and livelihoods.”

The Department for International Development,
ILO and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine are from
today hosting a two-day conference bringing together governments,
international and regional institutions, private sector, trade unions
and NGOs to create a network of organizations to take action against
trafficking.

The Department for International Development, ILO
and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine are from today
hosting a two-day conference bringing together governments,
international and regional institutions, private sector, trade unions
and NGOs to create a network of organisations to take action against
trafficking.